2008 Australian Grand Prix Preview -
03-13-2008, 08:44 AM
2008 Australian Grand Prix Preview
Race Track Diagram:
Location: Albert Park, Melbourne
Race Date: 16 Mar 2008
Number of Laps: 58
Circuit Length: 5.303 km
Race Distance: 307.574 km
Lap Record: 1:24.125 - M Schumacher (2004)
Last Year Table:
planetf1 text preview:
Welcome to a new season of races on Planet-F1. We could have published a season preview, but the Australian GP preview is very much the same thing. Because the fact is that the teams are all waiting to see their relative performance in Australia to work out what they do next.
Look ahead to the months of June and July? It's not possible, right now the 11 race teams want to be reassured that they're at least where they think they are, if not a little better.
The phoney war of winter testing and other cars running with uncertain fuel loads is over, now it's the real thing.
Though we will know a lot by the end of testing on Friday, we still won't know the whole picture. That's because the Albert Park road circuit in Melbourne needs a lot of rubber laid down before it starts acting like a GP track.
With little grip and barriers in close proximity, it's an interesting place to see how the cars will operate without engine braking and traction control. And by interesting of course I mean potentially very disastrous.
The team to beat will be last year's winners Ferrari. In the 2007 race Kimi Raikkonen stormed away for a win and the car looked uncatchable. We subsequently learned that a lot of this advantage was thanks to an illegal movable floor (though only illegal once the test had been properly implemented at the correct loads).
Ferrari arrive at the race as everyone's hot favourites for another season of domination. Though they were not always fastest in winter testing, they were consistently fastest over the longer runs. Snapping at their heels were McLaren.
So in a way, plus ca change from Brazil 2007 - McLaren faster on the one or two banzai laps, with Ferrari faster over a race distance and the rest struggling to catch up.
The car right behind Ferrari and McLaren should be the Renault. Given that the team very publicly quit developing last year's R27 car halfway through the season to work on the R28, nothing less than third place in the pecking order will do. Flavio Briatore has done well to get Fernando Alonso back on board, but the car should have been testing a lot quicker.
Ferrari's tester Marc Gene was convinced that the slow times were a massive exercise in sandbagging and that they would spring a surprise, but it's looking increasingly likely that the car is just down on pace. If that's the case and they can only manage fourth or fifth, then they might not even hang on to Alonso for 2009. He may have returned to the team he calls his 'family', but family rows can be the worst.
An outfit with no such worries is the resurgent Williams team who have been consistently quick in testing, but haven't done the major mileages and race simulations of some of their rivals. It's important to have a well-balanced car for Melbourne that gives the drivers confidence, because they have to flirt so dangerously with limited run-off areas.
This is why last year's third quickest team, BMW, are likely to be struggling. Right from the time the charismatically named F1.08 was introduced the engineers were getting complaints from Messrs Kubica and Heidfeld that the car was undriveable. Heidfeld now says that the team were right to take the radical approach and that they are making "rapid progress". We shall see on Saturday.
"Rapid progress" seems to be the phrase of the hour as Honda have also been making "rapid progress" thanks to their final, private, three-day test at Jerez. The lack of running alongside other faster cars gives them at least the crumb of comfort that they are improving relative to the baseline of last year's 'Earth Dream'.
The freedom to improve will certainly be there with Ross Brawn guiding progress and Yasuhiro Wada returned to Honda HQ for a job in the PR department (you'll notice not an engineering role).
Honda's great rivals Toyota, who had an inauspicious start to their testing programme, believe that they are on the verge of a breakthrough. Instead of being at the arse end of the mid-grid, behind BMW, Renault, Williams and Red Bull, Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli believe they have the speed to be at the front end of it.
Red Bull should have been able to solve their hydraulics fragility of last season. With Webber and Coulthard continuing in 2008, the old gits team are high on experience and wilyness, but getting low on patience. A lack of reliability would be even harder to endure this season, which is almost certainly Coulthard's last in F1.
Toro Rosso, thanks to the strength of their Ferrari engine, have had a great off-season and one of the most fascinating duels of the season will be the battle of the Sebs - Vettel versus Bourdais.
Force India have been making progress (probably "rapid") thanks to an owner, Vijay Mallya, who is actually prepared to put some investment into the team. The only team that has stood still is Super Aguri who have been beset with financial difficulties. The lack of solid news has been greeted by speculation based on whether their garage was being prepared for the first race or not - the kind of thing that happened to Arrows before they slid into the abyss. Spookily Super Aguri is based in Arrows old HQ at Leafield.
With all 11 confirmed we're ready for the five red lights on the grid at Melbourne.
Though Ferrari and McLaren are likely to be the class of the field, the grid has closed up so that the difference between pole and P20 could be as little as two and a half seconds at some races. A lack of traction control will provide more errors and force drivers to take a lot more care accelerating out of corners. Wet races will be especially gripping.
Finally, we have the prospect of our first night race and also a new circuit at Valencia. The 2008 season has a lot in store. With Ron Dennis announcing that he will be on the pitwall in Melbourne only today, all the pieces of the jigsaw have finally fitted into place. Let's go racing.
Weekend weather update - 35 degrees plus in Melbourne
The start of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship looks likely to enjoy settled weather. It’s due to be partly cloudy on Thursday with an ambient temperature high of 34 degrees Celsius, and that will be the story for the remaining three days, albeit with a rise from Friday to 36 degrees.
The 5.303 km (3.295 mile) circuit remains unchanged since Kimi Raikkonen put his Ferrari on pole position in 2007 in 1m 26.072s before winning the race from the McLarens of Fernando Alonso and debutant Lewis Hamilton.
The race will run over 58 laps or 307.574 kilometres (191.12 miles) and will start at 15.30 hours local time (04.30 hours GMT).
Expect an all out battle between Lewis and Kimi. Also expect Alonso to be an idiot in the race.
Anyways, I'm fully backing Mclaren to win this. With a season under his belt and with his former teammate plying his trade elsewhere, I fully expect Lewis to build upon last season. I expect him to win this race.
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we are a Ferrari vs. McLaren here so i expect Kimi to win the race, he knows the track very well, has won it last season and it's a speedy track so he'll not have o problem with that.
But will be interesting to follow both Kimi and Lewis, tough battle it's expected.
Raikkonen and Hamilton set pace -
03-14-2008, 05:00 AM
Raikkonen and Hamilton set pace
eurosport review
Ferrari's world champion Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton renewed their rivalry at the top of the timesheets in practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Ferrari's Raikkonen, limbering up for his first race as world champion, laid down an early marker for Sunday's grand prix with a one minute 26.461 second lap that topped the morning timesheets at Albert Park.
But the Finn was less happy with his car's set-up in the afternoon, when Hamilton was quickest.
"I'm not very happy with the way practice went," he said.
"This morning we found some good settings for the car but in the afternoon we struggled and our lap times reflect that.
"We must look carefully at the data to work out how to improve the car."
Raikkonen won in Melbourne last year on his Ferrari debut and the Finn will be chasing a third successive victory after ending 2007 on a high with triumphs in China and Brazil taking him to the title by a single point.
Hamilton, the 23-year-old who missed out on the 2007 title by a single point after a stunning debut season with McLaren, was more positive.
"There was some good progress with the car and we made the best use of the ever-improving track conditions," he said.
His lap of 1:26.559, in 36 degree Celsius heat and under a cloudless sky, ousted Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber from the top spot.
Ferrari and McLaren, between them winners of every race last year, dominated the field in the first session but the pecking order was shaken up by Red Bull's strong showing after lunch.
Webber, who was a considerable 0.914 off Hamilton's time, cautioned his home fans against expecting too much however after a session that saw cars running with different fuel levels.
"We're not second quickest, we're still fighting for the back of the points," he said.
Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa and McLaren's new Finnish signing Heikki Kovalainen were third and fourth fastest respectively in both sessions.
Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso, who has returned to Renault after a bitter and tumultuous year alongside Hamilton at McLaren, was sixth in the morning but 13th in the second stint and complained of gusting winds.
"We must still find some performance but I am optimistic for the rest of the weekend," he said.
The top 10 highlighted the fierce fight behind Ferrari and McLaren, with seven teams jostling for position.
Poland's Robert Kubica was seventh fastest for BMW in the morning, ahead of Toyota's German rookie Timo Glock and compatriot Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella, a winner in Australia with Renault in 2005, showed Force India were likely to be more serious contenders than predecessors Spyker with ninth place in the afternoon after 12th place earlier on.
Toyota-powered Williams, whose pre-season testing times were impressive, made a troubled start with Germany's Nico Rosberg failing to register a timed lap in the morning before lapping eighth fastest in the second session.
The first session was halted for four minutes after Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet Jr spun and stalled on the track.
Hamilton on pole, Raikkonen 16th -
03-15-2008, 06:25 AM
Hamilton on pole, Raikkonen 16th
eurosport review:
Lewis Hamilton put his McLaren on pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix while world champion Kimi Raikkonen qualified 15th after his Ferrari broke down.
The 23-year-old Briton lined up a perfect start to his second season in Formula One by beating Poland's Robert Kubica, in a BMW Sauber, by 0.155 of a second on a hot afternoon at Albert Park.
Finland's Heikki Kovalainen qualified third on his McLaren debut and swept champions Ferrari out of the top three.
Brazilian Felipe Massa was fourth for the Italian team.
"To start the season, it couldn't be a better position for both of us," said Hamilton, with McLaren turning over a new leaf after the spying controversy that cost them £70 million and the 2007 constructors' title.
"It's going to be a very tough race tomorrow and we just have to do the best we can in managing our tyres and hope for the best."
Kubica, appearing on the front row for the first time, might have claimed pole but ran wide on turn 12.
The driver controlled the slide brilliantly but lost the couple of tenths that would have put him in front of Hamilton.
"This is the new style," he said of the slide, referring to the absence of traction control and other so-called 'driver aids' this year.
"I took quite a lot of risk which in the end didn't pay off because I lost more.
"But anyway I think it is a great achievement for whole team."
While Hamilton celebrated his seventh pole position from just 18 starts, a phenomenal tally that already puts him ahead of several champions, his main rival Raikkonen suffered.
The Finn, winner in Melbourne from pole position on his Ferrari debut last year, was eliminated after the first phase of qualifying when his car slowed with a fuel pump problem.
He would have been 16th but Toyota's ninth-placed German Timo Glock collected two five place penalties, one for an unscheduled gearbox change and the other for impeding a driver, and dropped to 19th.
"I got the impression that I was watching a replay of last year's qualifying, but an even worse version," said Ferrari's head of track activities Luca Baldisserri.
A year ago, it was Massa who suffered the setback.
"However, we are competitive in terms of race pace and so we can be reasonably confident about tomorrow, even if Kimi clearly faces an uphill struggle."
Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso, back with Renault after a turbulent year alongside Hamilton at McLaren, failed to reach the final 10-car shootout for pole and will line up 11th on the grid.
Germany's Nick Heidfeld showed BMW Sauber's strength with fifth place alongside Italian Jarno Trulli in the Toyota on the third row.
Behind them, Germany's Nico Rosberg qualified seventh for Williams with Briton David Coulthard eighth for Red Bull.
Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel shared the fifth row with Honda's Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.
Red Bull's Mark Webber, the only Australian in Sunday's race, crashed out in the second session in a big disappointment for local fans.
"It was just a failure on the front right of the car, so it pitched me off," he said.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella narrowly failed to take Force India through to the second phase of qualifying but ended up 16th after Glock's demotion.
At the back, struggling Super Aguri claimed a small victory when Japan's Takuma Sato out-qualified Renault's Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet for 20th place.
pfffff what else to say, just hoping Kimi will save some points tomorrow in the way as he knows, with a comeback race, cuz at McLaren did that in a couple of times.
Hamilton victorious in action-packed Albert Park race
Lewis Hamilton’s win for McLaren at the Australian Grand Prix almost went unnoticed in Albert Park this afternoon - and that tells you just what sort of race it was. The 23 year-old Briton dominated an event characterised by safety car interventions following a series of dramatic incidents that all happened behind him.
Hamilton would build a lead, lose it behind the safety car, build it again, lose it again. You get the picture. But if he was impressive here a year ago, he was even better on Sunday, never losing his composure as he took the lead of the world championship with almost insouciant ease.
If it was a great day for McLaren, it was a disaster for Ferrari. Felipe Massa spun on the first lap and was then involved in an incident with Red Bull’s David Coulthard before retiring, and Kimi Raikkonen, having benefited from the second safety car intervention, slid off the road trying to pass McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen and undid all that work. Then his Ferrari let him down when he was running seventh with three laps to go.
Indeed, McLaren should have had a one-two, but a third safety car intervention following a heavy accident for Toyota’s Timo Glock badly hurt Kovalainen’s chances as he had to pit when everyone had closed up. He dropped way back, was passed by Raikkonen, repassed him, then found himself overtaken by Renault’s Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard overtook both of his rivals in a wonderful move.
After fighting back, Kovalainen repassed the Renault with two laps to go, only to have his car falter momentarily as they crossed the line for the 57th time. As he wiped oil off his visor he accidentally triggered the pit-lane speed limiter and a relieved Alonso pounced to head his former team mate home in fourth place.
Ahead of them, Nick Heidfeld brought his BMW Sauber home an excellent second, chased by Nico Rosberg, whose Toyota-engined Williams was the fastest car on the track in the closing stages. It was the young German’s first podium.
The race began with drama as an incident in the first corner involved Honda’s Jenson Button, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella, Red Bull’s Mark Webber, Super Aguri’s Anthony Davidson and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, and led directly or indirectly to their retirements.
Jarno Trulli looked set for good points until his Toyota let him down, and Nelson Piquet’s debut for Renault was little short of disastrous as he trailed at the back and failed to make it home.
Sebastien Bourdais and his Toro Rosso crew made a great call on strategy and were running fourth, ahead of Alonso and Kovalainen with three laps to go, but were stymied by engine failure. Force India’s Adrian Sutil and Super Aguri’s Takuma Sato similarly failed to make the finish.
“The team did a fantastic job as always, and the car was phenomenal, a complete dream to drive compared to last year,” a delighted Hamilton said. “They pulled me in early on both stops and that kept us out of trouble. Physically the race was a breeze, and great preparation for Malaysia, so bring it on, I’m really looking forward to it.”
Ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari had looked strong enough to lead many to suspect they would dominate the Melbourne race in much the same way as they did last season. The Italian team, however, leave Albert Park on Sunday with just one solitary point, after both Felipe Massa and world champion Kimi Raikkonen exited the Australian race prematurely with engine trouble.
“There's not much to say about a disastrous start to the season,” said sporting director Luca Baldisserri. “We did not work well on any level and this is the consequence of that. We know how important reliability is and we were severely lacking on this front. It is absolutely ages since we have seen two engine failures in a race. We have to look at every detail of this weekend to understand what went wrong and how we can improve.”
The squad’s struggles started during Saturday's qualifying when Raikkonen, who clinched a convincing pole in 2007, was hamstrung by an electronic fuel pump problem on his F2008. Massa, meanwhile, only managed to clinch fourth on the grid after facing stiff competition from the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen and the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica.
Although Massa and Raikkonen both had enough pace to fight their way up the field during the race, the duo’s fraught efforts - which included driver errors and off-track moments for both - eventually came to nought with both of their F2008’s succumbing to as yet undiagnosed engine strife. And in the end it was only the disqualification of Honda’s Rubens Barrichello that saved Ferrari’s blushes with Raikkonen scoring one point for eighth place, despite the Finn's DNF.
“It's really disappointing not to finish the race, but at least the point is better than nothing,” explained Raikkonen. “I had an engine problem, the reason for which now needs to be analysed. This result is obviously not the best start to the season but it is a very long one and we are well aware that we are capable of recovering from far worse situations than this.”
Ferrari’s general director Stefano Domenicali added: “This has definitely been a very difficult start to the season and we have got off on the wrong foot. However, we should not react in an over emotional way to this. We weren't a phenomenon before and we're not carthorses now. We have to work out exactly what happened to the engines on both F2008s and they are being sent immediately to Maranello for analysis. The whole team has not performed to our usual standard. We have to roll our sleeves up and react, as we know we can.”
With McLaren scoring 14 points at the Australian race, courtesy of race winner Hamilton and fifth-placed Kovalainen, Ferrari are now left with a substantial deficit ahead of next weekend’s Malaysian event.
i haven't seen the race cuz was to early for me, but i was shocked wen i've seen how much retirements have been, just oh my god
All respect for Hamilton for this good race, was on first place from start to finnish, and as a Ferrari fan i'm hoping that next weekend in Malaysia too see a improved car because this was a very disappointing start of the season.
03-11-2008, 11:30 AM
2008 Australian Grand Prix Preview -
03-13-2008, 08:44 AM
so i expect Kimi to win the race, he knows the track very well, has won it last season and it's a speedy track so he'll not have o problem with that.
Raikkonen and Hamilton set pace -
03-14-2008, 05:00 AM
Very impressive times. Interested to know what his fuel loads were like.
